Category: Century Rides

In 2010 I set a goal for myself of a century-a-week but could only do 46 due to a leg injury in November that year. This year I succeeded in my “century-a-week” goal. I was able to complete 52 by October 26th, the day after my 60th birthday. No more centuries in 2013, I’m stopping…

This ride starts in south San Jose and heads further south to climb Roop Rd and Gilroy Hot Springs then fly down Canada Road before heading back to San Jose. The turn-by-turn route sheet is at this link based on this RideWithGPS route where you can download a GPX or TCX file for your GPS. …

This is an age-old ACTC route from the Almaden Coffee Roasting Company to Santa Cruz via Los Gatos and back through Scotts Valley. Jon Kaplan is leading this 100 miler on September 3rd, 2011. This is a link to the RideWithGPS route This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet This is a link…

One of my favorite things to do is ride up to Half Moon Bay for lunch at San Benito House. The homemade bread is mouth watering. I’m leading this ride again Saturday, September 6, 2014. We roll at 7:30 AM. Photos from the last couple of times I led a ride to Half Moon Bay…

This was my first long ride since November, too much time away. This was an ACTC ride led by my good buddy Jon Kaplan. After the first few miles I realized I wasn’t going to be able to hold the pace with the folks out front so stayed in the back and did my best…

My 52 centuries a year quest was stopped by an injury to my left leg so I was only able to complete 46 centuries this year. Hopefully, I’ll be back on the bike soon.

On nearly all my rides I capture the route on my GPS (currently an Edge 705) and I take pictures of the participants and a few scenery shots. Most of the albums are at my Picasa albums page but some are in the Almaden Cycle Touring club gallery on SmugMug.

Below is a brief summary of each of my 2010 centuries with the most recent ride at the top:

#46 on 14-Nov – Part of the Hollister Permanent with Ken Emerson. Photos of this 119-mile ride at this link.

#45 on 30-Oct – Old Tierra Bella – 105 miles led by yours truly. Photos at this link.

# 44 on 23-Oct – Skyline Ramble 200K – 125 miles with my good buddy, Ken Emerson. This is the 11th month in a row where Ken is riding a randonneuring event toward his R-12 Award. I’m happy I was able to accompany him on part of his journey. And this only represents about 25% of his riding for the year. This ride started in Santa Cruz went to Freedom up to Los Gatos through Corralitos then up to Skylonda for lunch followed by a screaming descent down Hwy 84 to San Gregorio. From there it rained all the way back south to Santa Cruz as we rode through Pescadero and Davenport. There weren’t many other cyclists out there but we did run into Andrea Symons as she was heading north just outside Pescadero on the Pizza Century. I only took a few photos due to all the rain.

# 43 on 16-Oct – Reverse Mt Hamilton – 123 miles led by yours truly with photos here This was one of the toughest of the year with 10,500 feet of climbing. On top of that I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not doing a lot on my bike between the centuries so conditioning is not where it should be. By the time I got to the back side of Mt Hamilton I was gassed but had to trudge my way to the top. Paul Metz had been with me for the prior 30 miles but I told him not to wait on me since my legs were feelin’ it. I was really happy to make it to the Lick Observatory at the top to take some photos and grab a candy bar and a coke. …

After a great Solvang Century in 2008 I thought I could make an even better go of it. In 2008 I completed the ride in 6 hours, 30 minutes; 5:50 in the saddle. A combination of less power in my legs this year and strong headwinds it took me over 7 hours total time and 6:18 in the saddle. Shows I need to rev up the training rides as much as I have the distance rides.

Millie and I drove to Lompoc Friday afternoon for a night’s stay in the Day’s Inn. The hotels in Solvang were nearly fully booked several months ago with the only rooms being much more expensive than they were worth. After arriving in Lompoc I drove the 20 miles to Solvang to pick up my registration packet. The crowds were huge with at least 3000 of the 4000 people arriving at about the same time. However, it was very smooth and fast. I spent a few minutes checking out all the booths of the cycle stores, health food vendors, and a variety of other interesting cycle-related businesses. …

After I failed to complete the Devil Mountain Double back in 2007 I decided that super long rides were not for me. So, the 300K (188 miles) seemed out of the question but I’ve been doing so well this year with distances up to 150 miles that I felt like the 300K would be tough but doable. And there’s something different about the brevets, at least for me. There seems to be so much comradarie among the riders than on other organized rides. In the past, I would start getting frustrated after about mile 120 and mad at myself after about mile 150 for signing up for such a distance. Saturday, I never felt that way. It was a great day.

Now for the 300K. My good buddy Ken Emerson picked me up at 4:20 and it was off to the Golden Gate Bridge for a pep talk from Rob Hawks followed by 188 miles in the saddle. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m doing on a bicycle at 6AM. It had been raining most of the night but by the time we rolled we just had wet roads and, as usual, I forgot something important: this time it was my fenders. I’m sure the people following me like Russ & Sheila Stevens weren’t too happy about that. Sorry. …

This was almost a no-go for me since it had been raining all night and most of the drive up to the Golden Gate Bridge. (I hate riding in the rain). The rain subsided just long enough for the 83 riders to register. And then it rained for the next few hours, all the way up to Petaluma. We were soaked by the time we arrived at the first check point on the road. I hate that!

Back to the beginning…as usual I didn’t sleep well the night before a big ride and the sleep was disturbed by rain pounding on our house. I couldn’t stop imagining myself soaking wet on the bike. Time finally came for me to drive over to Ken’s house so we could load the bikes into his big white van…at 5AM!! We parked at Crissy Field at 6:15 in time for registration at 6:45 and launch at 7:00.

While waiting for launch, Ken checked out Barley’s fancy little fixie. I can’t believe he can ride something like that and keep up with people on real bikes. Barley is the man.

Rob Hawks gave his usual inspiring speech and imploring us yet again not to do anything stupid. I did some stupid things during the ride but I don’t think anyone noticed, thankfully. After the invocation, we were off to points north just as the rain picked up again. …

After completing three 100+ mile rides over the past three week-ends I felt ready to tackle the first brevet of the 2010 season. I’ve ridden on the roads north of the Golden Gate Bridge a few times and was a little concerned about Highway 1 with its narrow shoulders but I felt safe all day…